There was always the likelihood of a tie on points, but why does it have to happen before everyone jumps up and down and says play-off or net run rate? And it could have been ‘worse’ had the North Down batsmen turned up for their last match of the season last Sunday when a win would have made it a three-way tie.
But can anyone really claim the title based on a three-way tie and what a farce it would have been with a four-way tie which was also possible had Civil Service North turned up for the first half of the season!
That said, congratulations to the Villagers and the Old Boys who finished with ten wins each, but whose reflections might be a little different. After all, Instonians had destiny in their own hands, but successive defeats in their last two games against Civil Service North allowed their opponents the chance to draw level. At the same time Waringstown will be delighted to add a shared league title to the Senior Cup win and another ‘double’ for this diehard club. Despite the circumstances it was no surprise that the two best teams shared the top honours and that North Down was the best of the rest. After all, the three clubs have dominated NCU cricket over the past decade, although in recent times North Down has fallen off the pace. The Comber club’s batsmen let them down badly this season and ironically the departure of opener Neil Russell to Instonians came back to haunt them more than once during their disappointing summer. In stark contrast to their halcyon years, these days North Down expect to win rather than play to win and their opponents have been quick to exploit their vulnerability.
The team that threw the spanner in the works during August was Civil Service North and although they finished 4th they stole Instonians’s outright win from their grasp and North Down’s chance to edge onto the podium, almost by default. The Stormont side certainly has a season of two contrasting halves.
At the other end of the table Lurgan took the drop losing out on net run rate to a disappointing CIYMS. The Pollock Park team were everyone’s favourite to go down, but like Ballymena they never gave up and produced some excellent results. The same could be said for Lisburn, but inconsistency was once again their downfall. The Wallace Park team can beat anyone on their day, but equally they can lose to them as well.
Whether the 8-team league format is the way forward remains open for debate, but the season was over early and the tight league placing kept the final positions at the top and bottom of the league in contention right to the finish. What could have been more meaningful was the application of net run rate to the top of the table as well as the bottom. This is an obvious anomaly that needs to be changed. Net run rate is an integral part of modern cricket and if applied to the top of the Premier League this year then Waringstown would have won with a rate of 1.04 as compared to Instonians with 0.55. And therein lies the sense of hollowness because most people outside Instonians must feel the same.
This NCU Rules needs to be changed and the NCU Rules Committee should take the initiative and put it before the AGM in October. To ignore it dilutes the value of a tight 8-team league format.
Clarence Hiles
Editor
